Jaya Mohanan ’99

Sustainable science—senior research chemist who works to clean the air.

Jaya Mohanan ’99 (chemistry) is a senior research chemist at BASF. She works to create catalysts that remove harmful pollutants from automobile exhaust. She currently holds twelve patents.

Mohanan immigrated to the US from a remote village in India while in the eleventh grade. Faced with learning English, being bullied, and feeling like she didn’t fit in, she decided early on to fight to become the successful scientist she is today.

She earned her PhD in inorganic materials chemistry from Wayne State University in 2004.